20 of the World's Most Beautiful Restaurant Dishes

Feast your eyes on some of the most beautiful dishes created at restaurants around the globe.

Feast your eyes on some of the most beautiful dishes from restaurants around the globe — from California to Tokyo and everywhere in between! These eye-pleasing creations prove that the kitchen leaders in these restaurants aren't just top chefs; they're also amazing artists. Looking for more edible eye candy? Check out these crazy custom cakes and our favorite outrageous food art.

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Maren Caruso

Coi, San Francisco

Dish: Inverted Cherry Tomato Tart
At Coi, visionary chef Daniel Patterson (an F&W Best New Chef 1997) showcases produce in dishes like this upside-down tomato tart, in which quickly charred, peeled cherry tomatoes sit on a bed of pesto and are topped with a tomato puree (made in a whipped-cream dispenser) and a crispy olive tart shell.

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Courtesy of Mugaritz

Mugaritz, Errenteria, Spain

Dish: Red Fruits from the Garden
A year's worth of experimentation went into Andoni Luis Aduriz's voluminous edible bubbles, made with sun-ripened berries and beetroot. The Michelin-two-starred Mugaritz was destroyed by a kitchen fire earlier this year, but Aduriz plans to reopen it this summer.

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Jacques Gavard

Pierre Gagnaire, Paris

Dish: Les Cristaux de Vent ("Wind Crystals")
Legendary French chef Pierre Gagnaire gives meringue a divine twist. He adds water to the classic egg white and sugar mixture to make it ethereally light — a discovery by molecular gastronomist Hervé This — and shapes it into gorgeous sticks.

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Courtesy of Bras

Bras, Laguiole, France

Dish: Gargouillou
This beautifully composed salad by the super-cerebral Michel Bras can have up to 60 individually prepared vegetables, leaves, flowers, and seeds, which vary depending on the day.

Dish: Heart of Palm
At Alinea in Chicago, the always-forward-thinking Grant Achatz (an F&W Best New Chef 2002) serves hearts of palm stuffed with five different fillings — from vanilla pudding to truffle-pumpernickel puree — on five separate pedestals.

Dish: Confit of Moulard Duck "Foie Gras"
This new dish by chef de cuisine Timothy Hollingsworth at the renowned French Laundry combines carefully shaved frozen foie gras with pickled huckleberries and blossoms from the restaurant's garden.

Dish: Sea Bream, Citrus Fruit/Peppers, Caramelized Ventrèche
Among the haute dishes at French megachef Alain Ducasse's grand restaurant is this fish-and-citrus creation in which sea bream is prepared two ways and dotted with colorful cubes of lemon, yuzu, and bergamot-flavored jelly.

Dish: Snails on a Tin
At the much-celebrated El Bulli on the Catalonian coast, Ferran Adrià continually pushes food boundaries with dishes like Snails on a Tin. Adrià surprised the food world earlier this year by announcing that he would close his restaurant in December 2011.

Dish: 48-hour Short Rib with Braised Daikon, Pickled Carrots, and Mustard Seed
At Momofuku Ko, the 12-seat-counter dining spot from David Chang (an F&W Best New Chef 2006), chef de cuisine Peter Serpico and his sous-chefs prepare extraordinary dishes like ultratender short ribs cooked sous vide for two days.

Dish: Mussels en Escabeche
At the Bazaar by José Andrés, mussels marinated in smoky pimentón-accented vinegar are served in a tin can, as an ode to Spain's excellent canned escabeche (seafood preserved in vinegar).

Dish: L'Arpège Farm Egg
At Manresa, David Kinch pays homage to the iconic farm-egg dish at Paris's L'Arpège: egg yolk poached in its shell with sherry vinegar, cream, and maple syrup. Among Kinch's twists: He accents it with Tasmanian pepper.

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Dominic Davies

The Fat Duck, Bray, England

Dish: Sound of the Sea
Avant-garde chef Heston Blumenthal's multisensory approach to food at his Michelin three-starred Fat Duck incorporates taste, touch, aroma, and sound. His infamous Sound of the Sea is served with an iPod nano tucked inside a seashell for listening to the lull of waves crashing on a beach.

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Courtesy of Aronia de Takazawa

Aronia de Takazawa, Tokyo

Dish: Fish with Powdery Dressing
At his two-table restaurant, Yoshiaki Takazawa's complex, almost theatrical dishes includes one that mimics falling snow: a piece of yellowtail, mountain vegetables, and edible lily bulbs are served tableside with a dressing chilled so low — minus 328 degrees Fahrenheit — that it takes on a powdery texture that steams on contact.

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Jun Takagi

Nihonryori Ryugin, Tokyo

Dish: Matsuba Crab Extravagant Hot Pot
Among Seiji Yamamoto's super-inventive kaiseki dishes is this extraordinary hot pot, with Matsuba crab from the Japanese region of Tajima, 10-hour-steamed abalone, and blowfish milt in a gingery dashi broth. Attached to the dish is a diagram of how it was created.

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